War X
by Dragonhulk
Summary: Xander is back home on the Hellmouth, but with a war between humans and mutants brewing will he be able to stay there for long? Story is set right after Soldier X so read that first.
1. Chapter 1

War X

War X

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or Buffy.

Ratting: Teen

Summary: Xander is back home on the Hellmouth, but with a war between humans and mutants brewing will he be able to stay there for long? Story is set right after Soldier X so read that first.

Authors Notes: This is it folks the last story in the series. I hope you've enjoyed the ride as much as I have.

* * *

As Xander looked at the people at the Bronze he wondered if it had really been only four months ago that he had been just like them.

Okay, so he hadn't been just like them from the moment one Buffy Anne Summers and walked into his life and he had started to help her kill undead creatures that shouldn't exist. Extracurricular activities aside though the young man figured that it had been about four months from the moment he had first driven past the Welcome to Sunnydale sign as he left on his road trip.

Starting from that point Xander figured he had spent about two and a half months seeing the sights that the good old US of A had to offer him, as well as working at various jobs to earn money to pay for gas and food so he could see more sights. Then about a month and a half of fun and joy with mutants, ending with a cross country flight and a taxi ride home bringing him to now.

Now meaning him hanging at the Bronze after even more fun and joy moments where he learned that he now had to pay rent to live in his parent's basement. It seemed to fit with how the later part of the summer had gone though, so he wasn't as upset by it as he could be.

But so help him, if one more thing went wrong he was going to start punching every man named Murphy he came across until he found the one that was messing with his life.

Just then Xander saw a certain blond that had starred in many of his high school dreams. He hadn't expected to run into Buffy or Willow here, but he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to talk to one of his best friends when the universe finally decided to cut him a break.

"The whole world in front of her, and she comes back to this dive," said Xander as he closed the distance between himself and one of his best friends.

"Xander!" cried Buffy as she went to give her friend a one armed hug. "When did you get back?"

"Last night. I was planning to hook up with you and Willow on Saturday, 'cause I don't know what strange hours my college friends have their classes."

"I missed you. How was your trip? Is America nice? I hear America is nice," said Buffy in a rapid fire motion that had Xander a little worried. Out of his two female friends Buffy was usually the more laid back one, and seeing her approach Willow babble was setting off a few of his best friend alarms.

"There's some purple mountains majesty, I'm going to have to say," said Xander figuring that Buffy would talk when she wanted to talk.

"What'd you do? What'd you see?"

"Well, the first stop was the Redwood Forest, and I must say being able to drive your car through a tree is of the cool. Form there is was up north to see Mt. St. Helens, because volcanos are always fun despite a disappointing lack of lava. Then I went east doing the normal tourist stops at The Worlds Largest Ball of Twine, the Liberty Bell, Niagara Falls, and Fort Ticonderoga."

"Wow," said Buffy clearly impressed with what he had seen.

"My car decided to die in New York, so from there it was work to get a plane ticket home to my loving parents, where everything is exactly the same except now I sleep in the basement and have to pay rent.

"So how's college?"

"Living in the basement?"

"I like to think of it as their own twisted way of trying to get me out of the house so I can become an independent man. Now I ask again, how's college?"

"College is good," said Buffy in a tone that Xander didn't believe at all.

"Buff, this is me remember? Willow has been my best friend from the moment she broke her yellow crayon in kindergarten, so if there is one thing I've mastered, it's telling when a girl feels bad even when she says that she feels good."

"There was this vampire, and she took me down, and I just… I don't know how to stop her."

"You were alone," said Xander. Not a question for Buffy to confirm, just a simple statement of facts.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Because I know you Buffy. I know you well enough to know that the only reason the vampire you faced isn't dust is because you were alone, and probably stressing out over school."

"Yeah, I was."

Xander simply nodded and continued talking. "Buffy I've seen two vampires kick your butt until you see whoever they have strapped to the sacrificial table that week. When that happens something inside you changes, and it doesn't matter how bad the odds are, I'd bet every comic book I own, every time, that you'll find a way to pull through and save the day. The only explanation that I've been able to come up with over the years is that you're a real life hero, and that means that you're always at your best when someone else needs saving. That's how I know what I know, but it looked like you needed a reminder."

"I think I did, thanks," said the slayer with a slightly embarrassed smile on her face.

"Now to make the night complete, how about we go and find this vamp and introduce her to the fun side of your Mr. Pointy."

"I say that this time she's dust," said Buffy with enough conviction that no one would be able to doubt her words.

* * *

"Why are we going to my dorm again?" asked Buffy.

"Because I have this thing that may help us find your stuff," replied Xander.

"Yeah, I'd feel a whole lot better about this if you told me exactly what your thing is, or even where it is, because I'm not seeing a new thing on you."

Biting back the first few dirty jokes that came to mind Xander simply said, "Let's just say that my summer vacation involved more than playing tourist. I'm not going to hide anything, but I only want to explain things once. That means that while you get to be one of the first ones to see my thing in action, the full report will have to wait until the next Scooby meeting. I will tell you that it's safe, and won't hurt you at all though."

"Mysterious things that come with cryptic warnings are usually bad things Xander."

"No warnings, just a statement that I hope will reduce injuries. Or more accurately you hurting me or my thing," said Xander as Buffy unlocked her dorm room.

"Well we're here, and my roommate isn't around, so let's see your thing."

"It's right behind you," said Xander, causing Buffy to spin around and see the very large hyena that was sniffing around the room, trying to find a sent to follow.

"Xander, that kinda looks like…"

"It kinda is Buffy."

"And it's not going to try and eat me, or do something else where I may need a school desk?"

"No, it's not. Listen, you aren't going to believe this right now, but this isn't magic. Like I said though, I don't want to explain it a lot so explanations will wait until everyone's here."

"That's something that I'm going to make sure happens about five minutes after I get my stuff back just so you know."

"I figured as much."

Just then a mildly attractive college co-ed opened the door and came into the room, quickly followed by Willow and Oz.

"Hey, we aren't allowed pets in here, you could get kicked out for that," said the unknown girl the second that she saw the hyena. "Wait, did you get kicked out already?"

"No, it's a prank by some people I knew in high school. You know Willow, the ones that never tanned well?"

"Oh, those people!" said the red haired former hacker as her face lit up in understanding. "Yeah, you really have to look out for those bad tanners; you never know what wacky prank they'll pull next."

"Whatever, just get your dog out of here," said the girl as Fido started to eagerly sniff her.

"I think he's found everything he's going to find," said Xander, taking note that even the weapon chest that Buffy kept by her bed had been taken even as he started to walk out the door, his mental construct and the rest of the gang following him.

"Um, Xander that kinda looks like…" Willow began as soon as they were a safe distance from Buffy's roommate.

"It kinda is Willow."

"And it's not going to try and eat me, or do something else where I would be safer in another town is it?"

"No Willow, it's not," said Xander as he shook his head at the fact that he had this conversation almost word for word just a few minutes ago.

"Hey, now that Willow and Oz are here you can tell us exactly how you know this, and how it isn't magic," said Buffy even as they all followed the animal as it followed the unique mix of perfume and dust it had found at the dorm room. The trail it had picked up in the room had lead underground, something Xander didn't think would be smart to follow, so now the hyena was stuck following the far more faint smell that it could pick up outside.

"I said I'd explain when everyone was around, and Giles counts as part of everyone. That means unless the vampires who stole your stuff decided to stash the loot with Giles, you're going to have to wait."

"Yeah, but I really want to know now," said Buffy in a tone that told him that she was mostly serious. She was still willing to cut him some slack due to their friendship and the talk he had given her earlier, but she wanted answers as quickly as he would give them.

"Like I said, I'll tell, I just want to tell everyone at once so I don't have to repeat myself," said Xander. "Now in an attempt to blatantly change the subject, did you know that your roommate isn't human?"

"Kathy is a demon?" asked Buffy with a bit of shock. "I knew she was annoying, but she hasn't shown signs of, you know, evilness."

"I said that she wasn't human, didn't say anything about demon or evilness," said Xander. "She could just be a mutant, or even a good demon. Just because she's your roommate doesn't mean she's an evil demon that wants to eat your soul."

The steady look Buffy directed his way stated her opinions better than words ever could.

"Okay so knowing our luck she probably is an evil demon that wants to maim and mutilate and do evil things to your morning bagel, I'm just saying it's not a 100 thing."

"Just for clarity, how do you know Kathy isn't human?" asked Oz.

"Fido," said Xander with a nod to the hyena they were all following. "I don't know everything he sees or smells, but I get a general idea. For instance I don't know what the perfume we're following smells like, but it was the strongest scent linked to the vampires that didn't lead into a tunnel."

"It's a boy?" asked Oz zeroing in on what he believed to be the most interesting bit of information.

"I think of Fido as a boy because I'm a boy, and because I have no desire to go and look."

"Smart," replied Oz as he glanced at the animal and would later swear that the animal gave him a far too intelligent look back that screamed of many hurtful things if the young werewolf even thought of physically checking what was under its hood so to speak.

"Well this is it," said Xander as they walked up to what looked like an abandoned frat house.

"You sure this is the place?" asked Buffy, her voice holding just a bit of eager anticipation at confronting the vampires that had stolen her stuff.

"Mostly sure. This is the place where Fido is getting the strongest scent from, so even if this isn't where they are this is where they hang out a lot."

"Good," said Buffy as she walked up to the door with a determined stride, kicked down the door, and walked inside with the intention of causing great bodily harm.

"Weapons?" asked Oz even though Buffy was already inside.

"Um, I think I have a pencil," said Willow as she began to rummage through her pockets.

"They stole Buffy's weapons so just stick close to Soldier Boy, he'll cover you until you can take care of yourselves," said Xander as he called the phantom of his Halloween possession into the physical world.

"Vampire dusting bullets?" asked Oz as he looked Soldier Boy over.

"Don't know, but usually they act a lot like regular bullets so I figure a vampire will react the same way a human would if they are shot in the head a couple of times."

Oz simply nodded at the logic of the statement, while Willow was just slightly wide eyed at how her best friend could casually talk about shooting things in the head. Granted they were demonically animated dead bodies that want to do unspeakable evil, but still.

"Okay Fido, you've been good, so all the vamps in here are game for you except for the leader, that one belongs to Buffy," said Xander as he entered the building with Oz, Willow, and SB.

The hyena only gave a pleased snarl in response before bounding ahead to where Buffy was fighting to cause as much carnage as it possibly could.

The battle was rather anti climatic truth be told. Between Buffy and the hyena most of the vampires were dusted in just a few minutes, leaving only one vampire wearing a black tee-shirt with a skull on it that the support group had to dust. Truthfully it wouldn't have even been that if Buffy hadn't had to compensate for her injured arm.

"So all this stuff in here, it doesn't belong to anyone anymore and would just be sitting her right?" asked Xander as he took a look at everything that didn't belong to Buffy.

"It seems wrong, somehow," said Oz even though there was a look in his eye similar to the one in Xanders.

"Dibs on the rowing machine," said Xander while thinking that selling this stuff would go a long way to letting him pay his rent.

"Okay no time for talking we have to get going if we're going to see Giles," said Buffy as she placed her class protector award where it wouldn't get harmed.

"Is he going to help us move this stuff back into your room?" Xander asked as he lifted a trunk of Buffy's stuff.

"Probably, but we're going to complete your definition of everyone so I can get some explanations. My stuff can wait until after you explain just how you can make the things you were possessed by real."

"Wow, when you said that you would want an explanation five minutes after you dusted the bad guy, I didn't think you literally meant five minutes."

"Well I did, so put down the trunk and move it mister," said Buffy with a slight smile on her face so Xander wouldn't take offence at her words.

Xander looked over to Willow for support in helping to delay this just a little bit longer, but saw a full force resolve face that said she was in complete agreement with Buffy. Resigned to his fate he followed his friends out of the building and across campus to where Oz had parked his van.


	2. Stories and Theories

The four friends arrived at Giles' apartment just in time for the middle aged man to open the door just as Buffy was going to knock on it. Needless to say that this timing resulted in events that usually began the Three Stooges comedy routine.

"Oh Giles, I'm so sorry!"

"It's quite alright Buffy," said Giles as he stood up from where Buffy had knocked him to the ground. "Though this is very fortunate, I was just on my way to help. After thinking on our last encounter I realize that I treated you unfairly. While independence is something every adult needs, you also deserve all the help I can give in supernatural matters."

"Thanks Giles."

"Awww, that's so sweet," said Willow from her position on the other side of the threshold.

"Yes well," said Giles as he began to clean his glasses in embarrassment. "I take it that the threat is more dire than Buffy originally thought if you are all here."

"Nope, threat went poof, and is now dustbuster food."

"Yeah, no threat, just a game of Show and Tell: The College Edition," said Xander as he entered the apartment.

"Wait, before we do that, Giles needs to tell us if it's okay to talk about stuff here."

"It's safe Buffy, Olivia left a few minutes ago," said Giles.

"Okay then first the show part," said Xander in a serious tone as he summoned his spirits. "Giles meet Fido and Soldier Boy, or just SB for short. Now before you ask yes Fido is what you probably think he is, and no he won't do anything like eat the principal."

"Yeah yeah, we've seen this already. Now is the part where you tell us how this happened to you," said Buffy.

"How did this happen? That one's easy Buff, I was born," said Xander as he ran a hand through his hair. "Okay long story short, this isn't a magic thing, it's a mutant thing. Something like this was going to happen to me some day, no matter what, because I have the X gene."

The room was completely silent for a while before Buffy said, "Xander you jerk, making us worry when you're just a mutant."

The other two males in the room seemed to brighten when they heard the news wasn't as bad as they thought. The fact that Xander was now shunned by society because of something he couldn't control only made him fit into their strange family more.

"There's more Buffy," said Willow as she stared at Xander. "You're the Slayer, Oz is a werewolf, and I'm a Jewish Wicca. Xander knows that we'd accept him being a mutant, so there must be more."

Xander was simply basking in the feeling of being right. He had told Magneto that his friends wouldn't care that he was a mutant, but he had to admit to himself that after the summer he had gone through there was just a bit of doubt in his mind.

Out loud Xander said, "You're right Willow, there's more, but I'm not going to tell you guys everything."

"Why not?" asked Willow, her resolve face beginning to form.

"For the same reason your grandfather never told us everything about his tattoos Willow," said Xander. He really hated to say this, but it wouldn't be long until they saw how much he had changed over the summer, and they deserved to have at least an idea about why he'd changed.

"Oh, oh god," whispered Willow. It was times like this that her mind was more of a curse than a blessing, because she was able to instantly make the connection and conjure up some rather disturbing images of what could have happened to her friend.

"Please tell me that was a really bad joke Xander. Just tell me it was a bad joke so I can yell at you, then forgive you, then go to bed knowing that it isn't happening again."

"Wait a second here, what's the big deal about tattoos?" interrupted Buffy.

"My grandfather was a survivor Buffy, the only tattoos he has are numbers on his arm."

"Oh," said the blond slayer in shock, even as Oz's eyes went wide and Giles had a feeling that he would feel the urge to visit the liquor cabinet before the meeting was finished.

"They don't use tattoos anymore, but they do use electronic collars with shaped explosives set to go off if you use your powers."

"Perhaps you should start from the beginning Xander," said Giles.

"Okay then. My trip was the happy adventure it was supposed to be, until I hit upstate New York. I had a nice job at a bar that allowed me to replenish my cash reserves, and on my last night I dusted a couple of vamps, only a government goon squad saw me and figured that I was a mutant that could turn people to ash.

"After running for a while they caught me and threw me into a place that had everything to make sure you couldn't escape. And by everything, I mean everything from giant robots to cyborgs that look like they were designed by the Crypt Keeper."

"What about the final option?" asked Giles.

"Not so much of an option," said Xander, instantly understanding what Giles was referring to. "They had a little girl that could heal anything, including bringing the dead back to life. The record for activating the collar was nine times before the guy just gave up. It wasn't even any use trying to take the guards out with you because she'd heal them too."

"I see," said the ex librarian. Oh yes he could hear the liquor cabinet clearly now. For some reason he had always been able to handle demonic evil well, but tales of true human evil made him long for the numbing effects of alcohol. Never so much as to hamper himself if an emergency came up, just enough to take the edge off, so he could convince himself that the human race was worth saving.

"Don't worry though we got out. They may have been evil, but lucky for us they were also cheap. If they had used a regular computer and generator, instead of mutants they thought they had under control, I'd still be there.

"So we get out, kill the bad guys, burn the place to the ground, then bury the burnt out wreck for good measure. Everyone goes where they think they'll be safe and we all live happily ever after."

"Until something bad happened to activate your mutation," said Willow.

"Yeah, happily ever after until then," agreed Xander. "See the bad thing about fighting military type bad guys is that there is usually more than one base. Me and some of the others were going to a place we heard about, where mutants could be safe. The problem was that the military already knew about it.

"They attacked the same night we arrived. Some of them had guns that shot the nice sleepy time stuff we use when Oz decides to take a walk without a leash, but a lot of them used the good old fashioned bullets that were meant to kill things. I don't know why my mutation triggered then, and not with all the crap that happened before but it did.

"I escaped, helped some people stop a madman from killing every mutant on the face of the planet, then five minutes later stopped a mutant from killing every human. I don't really blame him though; he was a survivor like Willow's grandpa. And seeing what's happening, he's adopted a somewhat understandable 'kill them all before they kill us' mind set."

"So those headaches everyone experienced last week were due to mutants after all," said Giles in a thoughtful tone.

"Yeah, and that's one reason why I'm not going into details about that. I trust you guys, but if everyone knew the details of what really happened…. Well I for one don't think it's too out there that some idiot would ignore the fact that mutants were targeted first and mutants stopped it, and find a way to legally put us in the camps."

"I truly wish I could say that you were simply being paranoid, but after hearing a bit of what you've experienced over the summer it sounds like you are being justifiably cautious."

"Thanks Giles," said Xander intentionally using the older man's real name instead of a nick name. "Well that's about all I want to, or can go into right now. It explains everything that you guys were wondering about even if I don't want to go into details yet."

Xander was quickly crushed in the most pleasant way he could think of as both Buffy and Willow rushed over and hugged him. Willow quickly broke down in tears and Xander was soon in the familiar role of comforting his best friend.

"I'm gong to feel bad about interrupting this moment later, but I feel the need to have something clarified for me. You were first taken in because you dusted a vampire right?" asked Oz.

"Yeah Oz, I was."

"This disturbs me. We all dust vampires, and as Willow pointed out earlier we aren't too far from mutants ourselves. What will happen if they see Willow using magic, or Buffy throwing a vampire across a graveyard? Will they test us to see if we're a mutant and then let us go, or will they keep us until they learn how we do what we do?"

"Probably the latter I'm afraid," said Giles. "What's worse is the fact that Buffy and Oz may even test positive, though I personally don't subscribe to that line of thinking."

"K, that needs the 'splainey," said Buffy, with a confused look on her face.

"I know that you all think of the Watchers Council as old fashioned, even archaic, and in some areas you would be correct. However we do tend to take note of global concerns such as mutants. This has become a rather lively topic, and the only thing all sides agree on, is that they shouldn't exist on a purely scientific basis."

"What's so unscientific about the X-gene?" asked Willow.

"Nothing in and of itself. However, if you look at the energy that some mutants expend when using their powers, it is completely at odds with the energy a human body can generate on its own. There are even mutants who are rumored to be able to change their entire body into a different substance, like stone or wood, and back again. During such transformations, the biological factors that would hold the X-gene disappear. This simply can not be done within the known rules of science."

"So mutants are magical creatures then, like elves?" asked Xander.

"Yes. One of the major schools of thought is that the X-gene is, in part, simply a way to easily channel magic, and then the rest of the genes determine how the magic will manifest. Following this train of thought, is that people such as werewolves and slayers would have an artificial X-gene inserted into them, that changes them from normal humans into magically altered or enhanced human in some way."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes before Willow finally asked, "Then what are the other thoughts? You made it sound like there was more than one."

"There is one other major theory. It's based around the idea that mutants are actually a much older phenomenon than most would think. Simply stated, the idea behind this is that mutants developed during the reign of demons, and used their powers to fight and win against the beings that had ruled over this would for countless ages. This is really just the most recent answer to the debate on just how the Old Ones were defeated really. Though it is much more credible than some of the ones that have cropped up in the past."

"That could explain things," said Oz.

"Yes, and it's much more believable than the one about giant aliens I heard about when I was going through training. Daniel was a nice enough person, but had a rather active imagination."

"Well, I still need to get my stuff back in my dorm. I can do the heavy lifting, but it would be great if you guys could help out too," said Buffy as she started to head towards the door.

"I'll help, but the standard payment applies," said Xander.

"Don't you think you're getting too old to bribe with my moms chocolate chip cookies?" asked Buffy.

"One; you can never be too old for well made deserts, and two; I'm living in the basement now, I need my sugar heaven, and Twinkies cost money."

"Point," said Buffy as the group of friends walked down the darkening streets, heading towards the college campus, and then a now truly abandoned frat house.


	3. Growth and Imaginary Relationships

Xander awoke in a cold sweat, the memory of the nightmare burning away as light reached his eyes. The dreams weren't as bad as they were before his mutation had activated, but every now and then he would dream something that would wake him up in the middle of the night.

In his opinion though it wasn't anything to worry about. The nightmares seemed to be happening less often, so one day they would fade away completely. Until that day came he would just do what he always did, help his friends and try to find a job to pay rent, hopefully something that would be a bit more exciting than shelving books with Giles.

It wasn't that he was ungrateful that Giles was giving him money to shelve books, but if there was one thing that Xander knew: he wasn't was Library Guy. Though when he thought about it Library Guy beat Unemployed And Living In His Parent's Basement Guy hands down.

***

"Okay, as much fun as it is to hang out in a non killing Buffy's demonic roommate capacity as this has been, I just don't understand the system you're using," Xander finally admitted after a good five minutes of trying to figure out where to put a book.

"System?" responded Giles in a confused voice. "Xander it's called the alphabet."

"Giles I've collected comic books, I know how to organize things according to the alphabet, but they never covered any of these on Sesame Street," said Xander as he held up a book that was written in Arabic, or possibly some strange demonic language.

"Ah, I can see where that would give you some trouble. Just put all the books you can't sort into a pile and we'll get to them later."

"Sure thing Giles," said Xander as he put the book into a new pile.

A few minutes later a familiar face walked into Giles' apartment. He had only gone on one date with her, but it had been memorable, in much the same way as a root canal.

"Anya? Last I saw, you were fleeing in terror. So how'd that work for you?"

Looking at Giles the black haired ex demon said "I need to talk to Xander. Go away." Then she smiled at Xander, took his hand, and dragged him out the door.

Xander allowed himself to be led out the door, giving Giles an apologetic glance as he went. It wasn't as if he was trying to bail on his work, but he felt that seeing what the woman wanted may be important to his well being. The fact that this let him escape the mind numbing cataloging was just a happy coincidence, really.

"Your mother said you're working here," said Anya as soon as they were outside.

"Yeah, I need some money."

"Where is our relationship going?"

"Our what now?"

"Relationship. What kind do we have, and just what is it progressing towards?"

"As far as I know, a non existent one, or possibly just an imaginary one I get those confused sometimes."

"But we went to the prom together."

"Yeah, on our only date, second one called on account of snake. Then there is the whole, you used to be a man killing demon thing."

"I can't stop thinking about you. Sometimes in my dreams, you're all naked," confessed Anya.

Xander didn't consider himself a stupid person, so he realized that when a woman said that to a man in that kind of voice things could lead to sex, something he really enjoyed. Granted his only experience in that area so far had left him in the street in only his boxers, but he had enjoyed all the events that had led up to that moment.

Now if he was the same person he had been three months ago he would have probably gone along with things, even if he was cautious about it. However during the summer he had experienced many of the things Anya had talked about on their date first hand, so there was only one response he could give.

"Sorry, but I don't think this should go the way I think it's going. No scratch that, I know this shouldn't go in the direction it's heading."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, but you and I can't date again, like ever."

"You're dumping me?!"

"Anya, think about this. You were called here because I screwed up big time with Cordelia, so that right there is probably a big neon sign saying that I'm not the right guy for you to date. Now personally I think I've moved past the whole cheating on my girlfriend stage, but I haven't exactly moved past what you did to guys that cheated on their girlfriends."

"But you didn't mind during the prom," stated Anya as her eyes narrowed. "There's another girl isn't there."

"Okay first, no other girl is involved here, I didn't really have time to date over the summer," said Xander as he held up a finger. "Two, yes I minded very much when you talked about ripping out a mans testicles through his butt and leaving him to bleed to death in the town square. I just didn't have any first hand experience with that sort of thing so I was able to ignore it, but I can't do that anymore, hence you not making my dateable list these days."

Anya had spent over a thousand years punishing men for cheating, and had become an expert in the male gender in her own opinion. In reality her view of men was colored by her hatred, but she had become proficient in telling when a male was lying, and Xander wasn't.

"Listen, you can always find another guy," said Xander as he noted the dejected look Anya had. He may have changed during the summer, but a sad woman was still one of his big weak points.

"I've tried," admitted Anya. "For some reason they find me off-putting."

"There are many comments I could make to that, but for the sake of this conversation not degrading into a shouting match that will end with you swearing bloody vengeance on me, I'll keep them to myself," said Xander as he tried to think of a way out of this situation. This girl had spent a long time living for the chance to dish out vengeance to men, so logic probably wasn't her strong suit. If he didn't get rid of her now chances were she'd twist the rejection into something she could kill him over, or turn stalker girl on him.

"Listen I know this guy, that may like you. He's more of a geek than I ever was, but from what I can remember he isn't the type of guy that would cheat on you if you guys did start dating."

"Is he muscular? Muscles are very important."

"That would be a big no," said Xander. "He's smart though, and that's just about as important as muscles these days."

"That doesn't sound right, I'm sure that muscles are very important."

"Listen; just go out with him once. If you don't think he's a good guy then we can find another way to get you over this."

"Okay," agreed Anya with a nod.

"Good," said Xander. "Now one more thing before we go back inside and call him. If it turns out that I'm wrong and he does something to piss you off, I don't want you to kill or mutilate him. You can scream at him, you can leave him, you can even trash his stuff if he did something really stupid like sleep with another woman without officially breaking up with you, but so help me God if you kill him or do half of the things to him that you talked about during Prom I'll kill you."

Anya didn't shiver at the cold look that entered Xanders eyes as he spoke. A thousand years of being a demon desensitized you to other beings making honest promises of death and violence. No, the only emotion she felt was surprise that Xander was the one making it, he hadn't seemed like the type a few months ago.

"I thought you didn't kill humans?" asked Anya in honest curiosity.

"That's Buffy, she's the hero. Me, I don't like killing humans but I will if I have to. Now because I'm setting you up with this guy that makes me at least partly responsible for what you do to him, hence the warning so you don't do anything that I'll have to get revenge for later," said Xander before he paused and thought for a moment. "But that also means that I'm responsible for you, so if I'm really wrong about him and he starts to physically hurt you, tell me and I'll straighten him out."

"Agreed," said Anya.

"Okay then," said Xander as he walked back into the apartment.

"Hey Giles, is it alright if I use your phone real quick?" asked Xander.

"As long as you don't talk too long and it's a local call."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," said Xander as he pulled out a phone book and quickly looked up the number he wanted before dialing.

"Hey Jonathan, it's Xander… Yeah it's nice to know you made it through Graduation too… Hey listen, the reason I'm calling you is that there's this girl I know and I'm trying to set her up on a date with you… No, this isn't a joke. This is me, Xander, remember? I didn't get the worst of what the jocks dished out back in high school but I got enough that I wouldn't do something like that to you… Honestly?! I chose you because I think you'll treat her right. She doesn't have the best history with men so I thought I'd hook her up with a nice guy and you came out on the top of the list… Tomorrow's good? Okay, I'll let her know to meet you there."

Hanging up the phone, Xander quickly wrote down an address on some scratch paper before turning to Anya and saying, "Okay, it's a dinner date for tomorrow at five. Here's the address."

"Is this a good restaurant?" asked Anya.

"It's not top of the line, but it's a step up from a fast food place," said Xander with a shrug, remembering the time he took Cordelia there.

"I'll go, but if this doesn't work out I'll be back to talk to you about the dreams where we're both naked," said Anya as she took the slip of paper and walked out of the apartment.

Once she left, Xander turned to Giles and asked, "Just how old were you the first time you turned down the possibility of sex for your own mental or physical well being?"

"I don't know, that situation hasn't happened to me before," said Giles with just a bit of a smirk playing across his face.

Xander simply groaned and said, "Lets get back to work. The sooner we get done, the sooner I can go home and pound my head against the wall until I convince myself that I just did the right thing here."

"Very well," said Giles as he turned back to the books, the oh so British smirk now firmly plastered on his face.

***

A few days later Xander once again found himself in Giles' apartment. This time though, instead of mind numbing cataloging he got to look forward to mind numbing research, because Spike decided to become all powerful by looking for the vampires' version of the Grail.

"Okay, either I'm borrowing all your albums or I'm moving in," said Oz as he looked through the record collection that had caught his eye.

"Oz, there are more important things than records right now," said Giles, his mind immediately switching from research mode to get the attention deficit Americans back on track mode.

"More important than this one?" asked the werewolf as he held up a record.

"Well, I suppose an argument could be made for," Giles said before being cut off.

"Hey is that a TV? Hey everyone Giles has a TV, he's shallow like us," said Xander as something caught his eye. While he had learned to focus during planning sessions when everyone was working on escaping from Weapon X, there wasn't an immediate threat this time so he felt justified in putting Giles in an uncomfortable spot for a few minutes. Okay, bad news if Spike finds the gem, but Giles still wouldn't say that it existed, just that if it existed, it's more than likely that it would be here in Sunnydale so a few minutes wouldn't hurt.

"Okay I got to admit I'm a little disappointed," said Oz as everyone gathered around the TV.

Giles simply stammered in search of an explanation as Willow walked over and said, "Well maybe it doesn't work. Like a piece of art."

Xander just grinned as he turned on the wonder of modern science. After all the times Giles had told him that television was rotting his brain this was just too much fun.

"Public television," said Giles. "Come on everyone we have vital work to do. Watching television is not going to help us."

Xander agreed until the news report about a tunnel collapsing near UC Sunnydale caught everyone's attention. Just about everyone had the same thought, but Giles was the one that vocalized that the incident had to be Spikes doing, and then he promptly ordered Xander to go and find Buffy.

"Wake up Fido, you have work to do," said Xander as he used his mutant ability to give a physical body to one of the spirits that had possessed him.

The unnaturally large hyena already knew what it was supposed to do. Taking a deep breath through the nose it caught the scent it wanted and sped off towards it's prey, with Xander close behind.

***

Xander's heart froze as he followed Fido and found Spike standing out in the sun, and not busting out in flames. This was bad, with a capital B, A, and D thrown in for good measure.

"The Gem of Amara," came Spikes voice right before he gave Buffy a vicious backhand. "Official sponsor, of my killing you."

"Like Hell," snarled Xander. "No rules Fido, rip him apart!"

Spike looked up at the shout, just as Fido crashed into him, fang and claw tearing at the vampire. Unfortunately the wounds inflicted on Spike instantly healed.

"I liked that shirt!" yelled Spike as he grabbed the hyena manifestation and promptly broke its neck. A neck that almost instantly healed. The vampire could feel the broken vertebrae realign and heal under his hands.

Xander didn't waist the few moments that Spike was distracted though. He instantly summoned Soldier Boy behind Spike and commanded the faceless soldier to hold the vampire.

"Now Buffy!" called out Xander, but she was already moving, running towards Spike as quickly as she could. The first clue Spike had of her intentions was the instant he felt both her hands grab the ring on his finger and pull it off.

Now being burned by the sun, Spikes considerable survival instincts kicked in. Using all his strength he quickly broke the arm of the person holding him, and in the seconds before the wound healed escaped the man's grasp.

The next move was a bit harder because he had to get Fido off of him. This was quickly accomplished with brute strength, but left a good chunk of vampire flesh in the hyena's mouth.

Quickly throwing the hyena at Xander, Spike made a mad dash towards the manhole cover he had left open just incase the impossible happened and he lost.

Xander didn't react quick enough and was hit by his own creation with enough force to knock him out for a few seconds. This worked in Spikes favor because the second Xander lost consciousness the only two beings that could have safely followed him into the sewers disappeared.

***

"It's small," said Oz as everyone examined the gem in Giles' apartment.

"It's also very dangerous, and we're destroying it," said Giles.

"We don't destroy it," stated Buffy firmly.

"Well Buffy, any vampire that gets his hands on it would almost unstoppable," said Giles before he finally caught on to Buffy's train of thought. "Oh."

"I have that gig in LA. I could swing by," said Oz helpfully.

"Wait, what's going on, and just what's in LA?" asked Xander, his head still hurting a bit form earlier.

"She's giving the ring to Angel. Don't make a fuss," Willow whispered to him.

"Sorry, but I have problems with this," said Xander in a slightly louder than normal voice. "Now I'm all for Angel having an edge fighting the good fight and all, but Angel is one step from Angelus, and I don't want him to ever have that."

"Angelus isn't getting out again," said Buffy.

"You say that, but you can't know for sure," said Xander. "I'm not trying to be mean here, but Angel may get his happy on with someone else. Even if he doesn't, someone can make with the magic and make Angel go bye bye. Then we have an Angelus that we know can walk around during the day and can't be killed with stakes. What else wouldn't work, crosses? Would he still need an invite to enter someone's house?"

"I know okay!" said Buffy as she rounded on Xander in anger. "I know what will happen if he turns into Angelus with this. I know that there would be almost no way I could stop him. But I still love him, and I want to help him even if I can't be with him."

"Okay," said Xander with a nod. "If you already know, then I'll back you on this. I just wanted everyone to know what would happen if this turns around on us."

"We know," said Oz as his hand slipped into Willows. "But sometimes you have to risk everything to get something good."

"Okay, I can accept that."


	4. Halloween

Xander contemplated what he had created with the now gore covered knife. It was good, but not quite what he had in mind. That was the problem with carving things off of something though; once it was removed it was very difficult to reattach it if you didn't like what you did later.

"I don't know, I was going for traditionally scary, but it seems more sardonic to me," said Xander as he casually wiped the knife on some old newspaper.

"It does seem to be mocking you with its eye sockets," agreed Willow after she studied it for a moment.

"The nose hole seems sad and full of self loathing," said Oz, enjoying this game, even if his tone didn't change from its normal pitch.

"What do you think Buff?" asked Xander as he turned the Jack-O-Lantern towards where she was laying on the bed.

"Scary is overdone, and if you think about it sad is much more appropriate. I mean think of it from the pumpkins point of view. You grow up in the sun with all your pumpkin friends, then someone comes along, cuts you open, and rips out your guts. I say the pumpkin has a right to be sad."

"Well some pumpkins are smart enough to make friends with carnivorous animals and the dreaded sniper plants, who once again offer to kill, or better yet brutally maim the person who ripped out the guts of their pumpkin friend," said Xander.

"No Xander, I'm not letting you kill Parker," said Buffy with a slight smile on her face.

"Drat, foiled again," said Xander as he picked up a plastic bag. "And on that disappointing note, let me introduce the feature for tomorrow night's second annual Halloween screening. People prepare to have your spines tingled, your gooses bumped, by the terrifying Fantasia!"

"Maybe it's because of all the horrific things we've seen, but hippos wearing tutus don't unnerve me the way they used to," said Oz.

"Then you are a sick and jaded man my friend," said Xander with a perfectly straight face, one he held for a few moments before it fell. "Honestly I reserved Phantasm, but the stupid video store put this one away instead, and this was the closest thing they had to a horror movie they had left in stock."

"I thought we were doing that Alpha Delta thing?" asked Willow as she turned towards Buffy and Oz.

"What thing?" asked Xander; completely lost at the turn the conversation had taken.

"The scary house? Sounds kinda lame," said Buffy.

"It actually borders on fun. You have to go through the scary house maze to get to the party; which is usually worth getting to. Those guys go all out."

"As witnessed last Friday," said Willow, backing up her boyfriend's statement.

"There was a party last Friday?" asked Xander, a bit of hurt creeping into his voice.

"We didn't tell you?" asked Willow.

"No, I understand. You guys are doing the college thing, with the college party pack included for no extra fees, while I'm doing the soul crushing job thing."

"You can come if you want," said Willow with a slight smile on her face because of Xander's antics. He had always been able to make her smile when she was feeling sad or guilty, and it was nice to know that some things didn't change.

"Oh thank god," said Xander in exaggerated relief. "I need party time with my friends, because there is only so much soul crushing job stuff that I can do before my soul gets, well you know."

"Crushed?"

"Into a cube, like a car, to possibly be used as a paperweight at some point in the future," said Xander with an affirmative nod.

"Well I'm going to get going," said Buffy as she got up to leave.

"Now? Come on Buff, the nights still… Wow, okay it's getting a bit mature, but still," said Xander after taking a glance at his watch.

"I'm sleepy. You guys have fun," said Buffy.

"You want me to come with?" offered Willow.

Already mostly out the door Buffy simply said, "No thanks, I'm fine."

"I get the feeling that she may still be suffering from Post-Parker depression," said Oz.

"Yeah, the sad pumpkin thoughts are a dead giveaway," said Willow.

"Still, we must also feel sorry for Parker," said Xander in a serious voice.

"We do?" asked Willow, quickly building herself to outrage, while her boyfriend raised both his eyebrows at this statement.

"We do," confirmed Xander. "From what I've heard he's had some problems of the spooky kind. It seems like every night this great big dog chases him around while snapping at his crotch. I imagine something like that kills any romantic vibe he gets going."

"This dog wouldn't happen to have spots would it?" asked Oz.

"There may be some spots involved; it even makes this creepy laughing sound on occasion."

"Didn't Buffy just tell you that you couldn't kill or maim Parker?" asked Willow, though there wasn't any disapproval in her tone.

"Yes she did, and if you'll notice Parker won't have one mark caused by either SB or Fido. This falls directly in the psychological warfare department, and messing with his head is the least I could do after he messed with Buffy's heart."

"You know me and Buffy have this psyche paper coming up, and behavior modification through negative feedback would be a good subject for it," said Willow with a smile.

"This is me Wills, if you want me to understand you need to downgrade from college talk to townie."

"She wants to watch Fido chase Parker around so she can get a good grade in her class," translated Oz.

"See, he knows how to talk to me, and if that fails; he can just grunt in man speak."

The three friends shared a laugh at the joke, and went back to the pumpkins for another hour before both Oz and Willow called it a night.

* * *

The next night Xander smiled as he walked up to Buffy. She was looking a bit happier than last night, though Xander didn't know if this was Buffy being happy or Buffy thinking that Red Riding Hood should look happy.

"So what's in the basket little girl?" asked Xander in a lecherous voice.

"Weapons," said Buffy as she opened up the picnic basket she was carrying just enough to let Xander see the stakes and daggers she had hidden there. "So what are you hiding in your tool belt?"

"Weapons," responded Xander in the exact same tone Buffy had used a few moments earlier, before opening the pouch that was reserved for nails and showing Buffy the slim stakes he had carved. "You know either we're both getting paranoid, or we're starting to think together like an old married couple."

"Or we could both have well developed survival instincts."

"Nice try little missy, but your logical explanations have no hold on me. Either we're both ready for the loony bin or we're destined lovers but don't know it yet."

"I think that you've either had too much coffee or your tie is cutting off the blood to your brain," said Buffy as a small smile crept on to her lips. "And just what are you trying to be with a tool belt and a dress shirt and tie?"

"The true king of cable home-repair shows, Tim 'the Tool Man' Taylor; this guy was great, he was like Bob Vila and the three stooges all rolled into one. This way if we're turned into our costumes again I'll get the skills I need to find a better job."

"That or you'll be turned into one of the Village People."

"Thanks for that image," said Xander with a shudder. "I would have gone as James Bond, but buying a decent shirt and a tie from Wal-Mart is a whole lot cheaper than renting a tux for the night."

It was at that time that the two met up with Willow and Oz. Willow had gone all out, dressing in full armor, while Oz looked like he did every other day of the year.

"Will. Medieval Will," said Buffy as she took in her best friend's appearance.

"Hail, ye old, and any other freaky words you'd only find in Shakespeare or one of Giles' books," said Xander.

"I'm Joan of Arc," explained Willow. "I figured we had a lot in common, seeing as how I was almost burned at the stake, and plus she had that close relationship with God."

"And you are?" Xander asked Oz.

Oz simply opened his jacket revealing a simple nametag with the word God written on it.

"Wow, cheaper but still cooler than my costume, I think I'm jealous," said Xander.

"Envy is a sin," responded Oz.

It was at that moment that two people dressed as commandos and wearing ski masks walked out of the bushes in front of the group. Xander saw the guns and how they were dressed, and began to get nervous, and then he saw how they moved together and broke out in a cold sweat. He couldn't place it on any one thing, but something in the way they moved told him that they had been trained for months to work together as a team, that these were the real things instead of kids in costumes.

Xander simply stood frozen for a couple minutes; a part of him didn't even want to breathe because he was afraid that it would attract the attention of the masked men. He was vaguely aware that his friends were talking, but he couldn't hear them over the thundering of his own heart, so it was a minor miracle that he didn't summon SB and Fido on instinct when Buffy put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay Xander?" asked Buffy.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" responded Xander before quickly buckling under the concerned looks his friends were giving him. "Okay, so it's going to be a while before I can look at soldier or military stuff without having flashbacks of the summer, but that doesn't mean we still can't have a good time scaring ourselves silly."

"If you're sure," said Willow.

"I'm sure. Halloween is the only holiday scheduled off of slaying; it should take more than a panic attack for us to give up having fun together."

"Okay then," said Oz as he stopped in front of a building and opened the doors. "Let the horrors begin."

Once they entered the building Xander saw almost everything you would need for a nice, somewhat cheesy, Halloween party. There were cobwebs, a plastic severed head, snacks, the only thing that was missing were people.

"You know, I can't help but think that you guys may have overplayed how great college parties are," said Xander as he finished looking around as the head in the punch bowl began to laugh.

"Follow the signs," said Oz.

"Terrifying. If I was Abbot and Costello this would send me running," said Buffy as she looked at the room.

"Cobweb!" cried Willow before pulling it off of her costume. "Okay, that part may be too realistic."

"Frat boys aren't too obsessive with their cleaning. Might not be decoration per se," stated Oz, much to the disgust of the two girls of the group.

A couple seconds after Oz made his observation a plastic skeleton with a knife swung towards Xander, causing him to jump out of the way. A fraction of a second later there was a loud crack, and the skeleton had a new hole in its skull.

Everyone looked at Soldier Boy, and then at Xander, who quickly dismissed the manifestation when he figured out what happened.

"Sorry guys, guess I'm still in fight and flight mode after seeing those guys dressed as soldiers," said Xander with a sheepish grin.

"Isn't that supposed to be fight or flight?" asked Buffy showing that at least some of her Psyche class was sinking in.

"When you can create things to fight for you it can be both," said Xander with a shrug. "The important thing is that I got it out of my system so no more displaying the mutant powers if something jumps out at me tonight."

"If you say so," said Buffy as they begin to walk towards the next room, where Buffy examines a part of the floor.

"What is it?" asked Xander, wanting to know what had grabbed the slayers attention.

"Blood, real blood," said Buffy after smelling the bit she had rubbed on her fingers.

"Okay, either these frat boys have an unhealthy love for the holiday, or this is exhibit A for us to sit at home and watch Fantasia next year," said Xander as he felt the headache form in the back of his head.

"Do you hear something? Like a squeaking noise?" asked Buffy as she stood up.

"I hear it too," said Willow after a few moments of trying to listen to the sound Buffy described. "It kind of sounds like…"

The entire group recognizes the sound at the same time, and look towards the ceiling to find it filled with bats. It seemed that the flying vermin had been waiting for the group to notice their presence because as soon as everyone looked up they dropped from their perches and flew down the hall, causing all four demon hunters to scream and cover their heads.

Soon after the bats depart Oz notices one lying on the floor. Deciding there was something different about it now he simply walks over and pokes it while ignoring Willows warnings.

"It's made of rubber," stated Oz, confusion clear in his voice.

"What the hell is going on here?" yelled Buffy, far less restrained about expressing her confusion.

"I'm guessing Evil Mage on Halloween part two," said Xander as he took out the mini stakes and hammer from his tool belt and summoning Soldier Boy and Fido.

"Release Me!" bellowed a disembodied voice that seemed to shake the walls.

"Or maybe its Trapped Demon part one," said Xander right before the gang began to walk back the way they came.

It didn't take the gang long to retrace their steps towards the front door. However, when they finally arrived in the lobby there was one slight problem.

"Where's the door?" asked Willow.

"This is the way we came in right?" asked Buffy as Oz turned off the haunted house sound track. "Thank the lord!"

"You're welcome," said Oz as he made his way back towards the group.

"Hey I have a great idea, let's get out of here," said Willow, fear and anxiety clearly heard in her voice.

"And you were so anxious to get me to come too," said Buffy.

"Guess it's my turn to ask, but does anyone hear that?" asked Xander.

Buffy cocked her head to one side for a moment before responding, "The 'ssss' noise?"

"That's the one," confirmed Xander as Buffy walked over to a closet and opened it, revealing a frat boy hugging his knees.

"Chaz," said Oz as he crouched down next to the fellow college student.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," muttered Chaz as he rocked back and forth.

"What's happening?" asked Oz in an even tone, trying to get some information.

"It's…" began Chaz only to trail off and start rocking harder.

"What is it?" demanded Buffy, her patience running out.

"It's alive. It's alive."

"Something tells me that Chaz isn't quoting Frankenstein here," said Xander as he looked around for any props that could hurt them when they came alive, the bats from earlier now fresh in his mind.

He didn't need to bother though. The only threat at the moment was the knife wielding skeleton that had come to life, a threat that Fido was all too happy to deal with.

"Good boy," said Xander as Fido continued to enjoy gnawing on the nice bones that had appeared. The fact that said bones were moving and repeatedly stabbing him didn't seem to bother the manifestation in the slightest.

The relative piece was destroyed when a girl's scream came from somewhere else in the building. This was apparently Chaz's breaking point as he immediately crawled back into the closet they had pulled him from.

"Cowering in a closet is beginning to seem like a reasonable plan," commented Oz.

"What closet?" asked Buffy a moment later; her question was a valid one because as soon as Oz and finished speaking the closet had vanished in the time it took to blink.

"Okay, here's the plan. Me and Xander will make our way upstairs and see if there are any people up there. Willow you and Oz will find a way out of the house and use it," said Buffy as she began to unpack the weapons she had stored in her picnic basket.

"Are you telling us to run away and leave you two behind?" asked Willow.

"We need help. Giles will be able to figure out what's going on here and how to stop it, but only if he knows that something is wrong."

"Buffy's right," chimed in Xander when it looked like Willow was about to argue "Whatever is doing this is throwing around some major mojo Wills. Now I could have SB try and shoot a hole through the wall for hours while Fido tries to dig a tunnel, but if the bad guy can just use magic to repair the wall it won't do any good. Way I see things we need someone to work her own magic to find a way out, and out of all of us you can do magic the best."

It almost looked like Willow would still argue, but Oz putting a hand on her shoulder, took the last bit of fight out of her. Without another word the couple left, trying to find a way out of the building.

"Thanks," said Buffy as she and Xander went up the stairs.

"No problem," said Xander as he followed behind her, furiously beating down fantasies of participating in a Red Riding Hood skit in the bedroom with one of his best female friends. It was amazing what the offer of hot demon sex could do to male hormones, even if he did turn it down.

"Just so we're clear in the future though, I don't like the Hollywood cliché of splitting up so the unspeakable evil can pick us off easier."

"Then why did you agree with me?" asked Buffy, a touch of anger creeping into her voice.

"Because we do need Giles and the fact that you also have a great track record of making us not die, so I decided to back your call; I'm just letting you know I don't like it for future reference."

"Well, this is a nice day isn't it Mark," said a hauntingly familiar voice, a voice that Xander still heard in his nightmares.

"I'd say so Dave, we come to check out some possible genetrash and we run into our old friend Ash here. At worst we get to pay back the bastard for what he did to everyone in the old base, and at best the girl is a freak and we get a nice two for one special," said another voice, one just a cruel and mocking as the other.

"New plan," said Xander as he saw two shapes immerging from the shadows and felt his mouth go dry. "Run like hell. Don't stop, don't slow down, and don't wait for me, just run. Get out of here any way you can, even if that means punching a hole in the roof and climbing down the building."

Xander didn't even wait to see if Buffy had followed his orders before mentally commanding Fido to rip out Dave's throat and for Soldier Boy to shoot Mark.

Dave quickly shifted his body weight and moved to the side to avoid Fido's lunge while pulling a Ka-Bar knife and plunging it into the hyena's skull. Xander had seen the manifestation instantly recover from a number of wounds so wasn't too worried until several seconds passed and the hyena didn't so much as twitch.

A loud noise made Xander turn his attention to Mark, who had just put a bullet into the head of Solder Boy, causing Xander's other protector to fall to the ground in a lifeless heap. Not that the soldier manifestation had hesitated in shooting Mark, but the Kevlar vest the mad was wearing gave him enough time to get off his own fatal shot.

"Looks like the mutant forgot that he was dealing with professionals Dave, let's remind him exactly what that means," said Mark.

Xander didn't wait to hear Dave's reply, he was already running. Questions about why his powers had failed him were pushed to the back of his mind as he devoted all his attention to navigating twisting halls and avoiding obstacles that would slow him down.

He wouldn't allow himself to be captured again. Even if it meant killing himself he wouldn't be sent to a place similar to the one he had escaped in the summer.

"And what makes you think you really escaped in the first place," said yet another familiar voice.

"No way," said Xander as he stopped running and looked down one darkened hallway. "I didn't kill you myself but there were too many people who hated you for you to have made it out alive."

"Indeed," said the albino form of Dr Essex as he calmly stood in front of a door. "I'm sure that if your escape attempt had proceeded I would be quite dead, but because it was all in your mind I am still very much alive and able to continue my work."

"This is something messing with my head; I saw the base buried under a couple hundred tons of dirt."

"No, this is me ending this deception," said Essex. "I let you see what would help lead me to your secrets, and now I have them. I must admit that I'm very eager to have your friends brought in. I've been able to do so much with mutants; I can hardly imagine how much I will be able to advance my studies with a slayer, a witch, and a werewolf. I'm sure that they will all want to thank you for leading me to them once they are brought here."

At the thought of his friends being tortured because he had failed to keep them safe something simply snapped inside of Xander. With a wordless scream of primal rage he leapt toward Essex to try and do some bodily harm, but simply crashed through a door.

Still screaming so hard his throat was beginning to hurt Xander began to turn around, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Feeling that he was being attacked and needing something to direct his anger toward Xander put all of his energy into a right cross, and found himself thrown onto the floor and pinned before it even connected.

"Now are you through being homicidal Xan, or do I need to use the tranquilizers we save in case Oz breaks out of his cage during his special time of the month?" asked Buffy as she looked down at Xander.

"I'm good," said Xander as he took deep breaths because Buffy had knocked most of the air out of his lungs with her take down.

"Good," said Buffy as she got off of him and held out a hand to help him up.

"Sorry about the whole trying to punch you thing, I kinda lost it there."

"Don't think you're the only one," said Buffy as she looked at the other college students cowering and whimpering against the walls.

"Get them off me!" yelled Willow as she ran into the room. Her screams reach one of the students, and he stands up and takes a hold of the hysterical Willow.

"Willow, Willow, what's wrong?" asks Oz as he gently but firmly holds onto his girlfriend.

"I couldn't get them off," said Willow as she came out of the illusion that had trapped her.

"It's okay, we're okay."

"We're not okay, we need to get out of here," said Buffy.

"Right there with you Buff, just not seeing how to make it happen," said Xander as he looked at the windowless room.

"Is anyone else noticing that everyone seemed to make it to this room?" asked Oz as he noticed that he and his friends weren't alone in the room.

"We were brought here," said Buffy. "Everyone got so scared that they were led here, but why?"

"I'm guessing that the way too realistic, evil looking, magic circle may have something to do with it," said Xander, more than a bit angry at himself for geeking out about how cool the fraternity was and not noticing this when he was here with Oz before. "I think the guy said he was copying it out of that book."

"I think it's Gaelic," said Willow as she picked up the book and began to flip through the pages.

"Can you translate it?" asked Buffy right before a rumbling voice demanded that they release it.

"I know I'm the Townie of the group, but something tells me that letting this guy loose would be a bad thing," said Xander, deciding that falling back on jokes would be the best way to retain his sanity until he had something he could hit with his hammer.

"Give me something here Willow."

"Okay," said Willow as she stumbled over the unfamiliar words. "This icon is called the Mark of Gachnar. I think this is a summoning spell to summon Gachnar. Somehow the beginning of the spell must have been triggered, so right now Gachnar is trying to manifest itself."

"How is it doing that?"

"It feeds on fear."

"We're feeding it, we need to stop."

"If we close our eyes and think happy thoughts we're going to get killed, these things are just as real as Fido or Soldier Boy," said Xander.

"Okay, so our fears are feeding it, if we get everyone out of here…"

"Again, good plan, but not seeing how it's going to happen. Everyone else remembers the disappearing front door trick right?"

"Oh, I think I got something!" exclaimed Willow. "It says that there are two ways to stop the summing. Okay so destroying the mark of Gachnar-"

Everyone looked over at the sound of breaking wood to see that Buffy had put her foot through the mark, and the floorboards they were painted on.

"-will summon Gachnar instantly, so isn't something we want to do," finished Willow as she looked at the now glowing mark.

"It's okay, now I just need to kill it, and I'm good at that part," said Buffy.

If Buffy had been expecting a large intimidating fear demon she was rather disappointed when a three inch figure came out of the glowing circle.

"Big overture, little show," stated Xander as he looked at the diminutive form that had caused him to be scared out of his mind for the last hour.

"I am the dark lord of nightmares! The bringer of terror! Tremble before me, fear me!" proclaimed Gachnar, causing amused grins to form on the faces of all of the Scooby Gang.

"He's so cute," said Willow as she laughed.

"Still an evil demon though," said Buffy right before she raised her foot and crushed Gachnar like a bug.

* * *

"Happy Hallow… Good Lord, what happened?" asked Giles as he looked at the four young adults standing just in front of his door.

"Explain later, chocolate and hippo's in tutu's now," said Buffy as she, Willow, Oz, and Xander entered his home without an invitation, and the last carrying a VCR.

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Giles.

"Fantasia, and the good tradition of staying inside and watching a movie on Halloween," said Xander as he quickly hooked up the VCR to Giles' TV, popped in the movie and hit play.

"Ah, Night on Bald Mountain, a good choice, this song always sends a chill down my spine."

It would take Giles three hours to learn why everyone glared at him before fast forwarding past the only vaguely frightening song on the entire tape.


End file.
